WHAT ARE ONLINE COURSES?

Online courses are courses that have been designed to be offered on the Internet. They have previously been approved by the University's Undergraduate and Graduate Curriculum Committees and are as rigorous in content as courses offered in the traditional classroom manner, requiring the same commitment of time and energy from you. Accessing the course is different though, as time and place are more convenient for you, the student. Interactivity with the instructor can be designed into the course through the use of chat rooms, newsgroups and email, at the instructor's discretion. Our courses have been designed using Web Course Tools (WebCT).

What courses have been taught online at JSU?

JSU Approved Online Courses - 2003 - 2007

How much time do I have to complete the course?

Our online courses begin and end with the traditional on campus semesters. You will work through the class online with other students and you must complete all coursework in the allotted time for that particular class and semester.

WHAT ARE MY COMPUTER REQUIREMENTS?

While Jackson State University does not recommend any particular brand of computer, your system should meet the following minimum requirements:

Computer

•IBM/Intel machines: Pentium-90 with 32 megabytes of memory, 2 gigabyte hard drive, monitor, a sound card, CD-ROM player and speakers.

•Apple Macintosh: Power-PC based machine with 32 megabytes of memory and a 2 gigabyte hard drive.

Operating System

• IBM/Intel machines: Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0

• Apple Macintosh: System 7.5 or better

Online courses are designed to run with current computer technology but not necessarily state-of-the-art technology. As a minimum, you will need a computer that is capable of running Netscape 4 or Internet Explorer 4 with a modem capable of transmitting at 28.8 kbps or faster. You will also need free space on your hard drive to install software that your instructor may require. Computers with more memory (16-32 megs minimum) will function much better in the highly graphical world of the web. Both PC's and Mac's are fully supported by the distance learning standards. We maintain Netscape 4.05 only.

Internet Access

You must have your own Internet account and an email account. You may choose the Internet Service Provider (ISP) of your choice. A standard rate for most ISPs is now $19.95 per month for unlimited access; there may be a small setup fee as well. Any provider will do as long as you get an email account and have access to the World Wide Web. Jackson State University is not responsible for providing Internet dial-in services. It is the student's responsibility to acquire an Internet service provider.

What if you're an AOL user? You can still access the courses, but you may have trouble with AOL 6.0. You need to have Netscape installed on your system.

What about Netscape 5.0? There have been quite a few problems with Netscape 6.0 as well. We suggest not upgrading to the newer version at this time.

Email

If you have your own Internet account, you probably have an email account that comes as a feature of the service. Additionally, all registered JSU students have a JSU email account issued to them. On-campus students must go to the HELP DESK (601.979.1069) to initiate the activation of their accounts. You may use either account for your initial online course communications.

Web browser

Your browser is the tool that "reads" web pages so that you can understand them. For JSU online courses, Netscape Communicator, 4.0 and higher, is the recommended browser on either Macs or Windows machines. Internet Explorer in the most recent release, will also work for most students. In addition to the browser, you may need some plug-ins to enhance your browser and/or other software which is available for you to download from the Free Software / Plug-ins page. If you are unfamiliar with how to download plug-ins, please call the HELP desk 601.979.1906.

Word processor, spreadsheet

Jackson State University campus computer lab standard is Microsoft Office 97 which includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. WordPerfect may also be used, but MS Word is used more often. These programs offer the greatest common denominator in terms of sending documents across different platforms. You may use the desktop productivity software of your choice, as long as your instructor can read your work. You will need to work out any compatibility issues with your instructor.

Discipline-specific software

Specific courses may have recommendations for required software. You will want to check course requirements for any specific software needs. Software, along with textbooks, may be purchased at the University Bookstore at (601) 979-2021 or by Clicking Here.

HOW ARE THE COURSES DESIGNED AND DELIVERED?

What is WebCT?

WebCT is a web based course development program designed to facilitate the creation of sophisticated World Wide Web based educational environments. It may be used to create entire on-line courses or to simply publish materials that supplement existing courses. The content of a course is provided by the course designer. Interactivity, structure, educational tools and administrative tools are provided by WebCT. The software has been leased by JSU from the developers at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and resides on a JSU distance learning server.

WebCT provides

1.an interface that allows for individual design of the look for the course (color schemes, content organization, page layout).

2.a set of educational tools to facilitate learning, communication, and collaboration.

3.a set of administrative tools to assist the instructor in course delivery, design, and continual improvement.

Welcome Page

WebCT provides an authoring interface for a course welcome page. Anyone, even those without access to a specific course account, may view the welcome page. This page is used for placing information about the course itself, information on how to obtain an account, and for contact information about the course. This page also has a link directly to the main homepage for the course, and to a guest account creation facility, should the designer allow guest accounts for this course.

Instructor Tools

Access Control. Student accounts can be created either by the course designer, or the designer can allow students to create their own accounts. In either case, once the accounts are created, the student is able to change his or her password.

Course Look and Feel. Courses can be customized in terms of layout, color schemes, default settings, and overrides for individual pages. Several sets of icons are available to the course designer, both formal and informal or casual. A counter may be added to any page that records and displays the number of accesses to that page. WebCT also contains a library of graphics and clip art.

Student Management. Class lists can be entered one student at a time or can be uploaded as a file. Class lists can be presented, saved, and printed in a variety of configurations and orderings. Grades are automatically recorded by the on-line quiz tool. Grades for other activities can be entered manually by the grader. Weightings can be assigned to each activity, allowing WebCT to generate final grades, which can be viewed on-line by students. Queries segregating subsets of students can be made, and statistics for the resulting student list can be generated.

Tool Integration. An instructor could perform a query to obtain a list, paste it into a group e-mail message, or into the progress tracking tool to see what kind of accesses those students have made to the on-line environment.

Progress Tracking. These pages allow the designer to monitor student progress in the course. Content-centered tracking that indicates the total number and average duration of accesses to each course page is also available. This can be used to make inferences about the level of interest or difficulty of content.

Student Tools